If you are parents or grandparents to children who have special needs, you may have a lot of questions regarding what can and should be done to prepare for their continued care after your passing.  The biggest question I answer for people is what needs to be done and how we can do it with respect to your estate plan to make sure the child will be taken care of without preventing them from qualifying…

The power of attorney for property in Illinois is a versatile and powerful document.  There are two main functions it serves for our clients at Lauren Jackson Law.  Not only is it used in all of our Estate Planning packages, but we also use it for our real estate clients who are selling property.  If I am drafting your estate plan, a power of attorney for property is strongly recommended and will be included.  This…

If you are trying to find out if a probate case has been opened for a deceased individual, there are a few steps you can take to find out that information.  If a probate estate has been opened, it will be with the county court for the county where the deceased party was residing when he or she died.  Here is a link for helpful websites if you are doing the research on your own.…

Occasionally, I have a case brought to my practice where a homeowner has died and had no known family members to whom the house should transfer.  In this case, there are a few different options for how to handle the future ownership of the house. If the homeowner created a trust before the death, and the house was properly transferred into the trust, then the successor trustee is responsible for making sure the mortgage payments…

Yes, if you are named in a trust as a beneficiary then you are entitled to a copy of the trust and an accounting annually of the entire estate. A lot of people keep their estate plan private for a multitude of reasons.  However, when someone dies and you have been named as a beneficiary you may want to know your rights.  Whether, the trustee of the trust likes it or not they have to…